Online Accountant for Quebec Small Business, Working in English
Quebec runs its own sales tax, its own corporate and personal income tax, and its own pension and parental insurance plans. EverStone handles all of it online for Quebec owners, in English, with fixed fees and one CPA on the file.
Updated September 2026.
Quick answer: A Quebec business charges 5% GST and 9.975% QST, both administered by Revenu Québec for most businesses. Corporations file the federal T2 and the Quebec CO-17; individuals file the T1 and the TP-1. Payroll runs on QPP, QPIP and RL-1 slips instead of the CPP-only pattern elsewhere. EverStone works in English with Quebec owners entirely online, handling the returns, sales tax and payroll for a fixed quoted fee. Published fees start at $100 for a personal return and $300 a month for bookkeeping.
Working with a CPA in another province is ordinary, and for a Quebec business the filings stay exactly where they were. See how the remote practice works across Canada.
Two sales taxes, one provincial administrator
Quebec is not a harmonized province. A Quebec business charges the 5% federal GST and the 9.975% Quebec Sales Tax as two separate taxes, 14.975% combined on most taxable sales. What makes Quebec unusual is who collects them: for most Quebec businesses, Revenu Québec administers the GST as well as the QST, so both returns go to the province even though one of the taxes is federal.
The rules on when to register and how often to file follow the federal thresholds. Registration is mandatory once taxable sales pass $30,000 in four consecutive calendar quarters. The filing period is annual at $1.5 million or less of taxable supplies, quarterly up to $6 million and monthly above that. Both taxes are generally recoverable on business purchases, the GST as input tax credits and the QST as input tax refunds, so the bookkeeping needs two tax accounts, each reconciled to its own return.
General information, not advice specific to your situation.
The T2 and the CO-17
Every other province collects its corporate income tax through schedules on the federal T2. Quebec administers its own, so a Quebec corporation files the T2 with the CRA and the CO-17 with Revenu Québec. Both are due six months after the fiscal year-end, and the balance owing is due earlier: two months after year-end, or three for a Canadian-controlled private corporation claiming the small business deduction that meets the conditions. Each return is assessed separately, so a reassessment on one side is worth checking against the other.
Quebec’s small business deduction carries a condition the federal one does not: it depends on the corporation having 5,500 paid hours in the year. A one-person consultancy, a young startup with unpaid founders or a holding structure with few employees can qualify federally and still pay a higher Quebec rate. The paid-hours question belongs in year-end planning, alongside the salary and dividend decision it interacts with.
The T1 and the TP-1
Quebec residents file two personal returns: the T1 with the CRA and the TP-1 with Revenu Québec. Each has its own credits and its own notice of assessment. Both are due April 30, or June 15 where you or your spouse are self-employed, with the balance still due April 30. Employment income arrives on a T4 for the federal return and an RL-1 for the Quebec one. For an incorporated owner, the two personal returns and the two corporate returns are four views of the same year, and they are prepared from one set of facts. Published personal tax (T1) fees start from $100 and are fixed in writing before work begins.
Where tax is not withheld at source, instalments follow. Federally they apply once net tax owing exceeds $3,000 in the current year and either of the two previous years, due March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15; Quebec sets its own instalment requests for the TP-1. Planning for both from the first profitable year of self-employment avoids a double bill in the second.
A payroll unlike any other province
A Quebec employer does not deduct CPP. Employees contribute to the QPP and pay QPIP premiums for parental insurance, with EI at a reduced rate because QPIP replaces part of what EI covers elsewhere. Federal income tax and EI are remitted to the CRA; provincial source deductions go to Revenu Québec. Each employee receives an RL-1 alongside the T4, both by the end of February.
The employer’s own costs include the Health Services Fund contribution and CNESST premiums for workplace coverage. Once total payroll passes $2 million, the 1% workforce skills development requirement applies as well. None of these is withheld from employees, so each is accrued as payroll runs.
RBQ licences and CCQ-regulated work
Construction is regulated more closely in Quebec than anywhere else in Canada. Contractors need a licence from the Régie du bâtiment du Québec for the categories of work they take on. Much construction work also falls under the rules of the Commission de la construction du Québec, which govern hiring, pay and reporting on regulated sites. The federal T5018 slips for subcontractor payments apply here as they do everywhere, due six months after the reporting period. For the accounting file, the consequence is a payroll that follows two rulebooks and job costing that keeps regulated and unregulated work apart.
Montreal and Quebec City, industry by industry
Most of the Quebec work concentrates in the province’s two largest cities, each with its own mix of businesses and its own pages.
In Montreal, the Montreal accountant page is the starting point, with service pages for bookkeeping, corporate tax, personal tax and payroll. Industry pages cover tech startups, restaurants, apparel and fashion, ecommerce and contractors.
In the capital, the Quebec City accountant page leads to bookkeeping, corporate tax, personal tax and payroll, and to industry pages for contractors, restaurants and hospitality, consultants, tech startups and retailers.
Everything a Quebec corporation needs, filed with both administrations
One CPA, one file, coordinated across every federal and Quebec deadline:
- T2 and CO-17 corporate returns and year-end statements
- GST and QST filed with Revenu Québec, from monthly bookkeeping at $300 a month
- Payroll with QPP, QPIP, RL-1 and T4 slips
- T1 and TP-1 personal returns coordinated with your corporation
- Salary and dividend planning that accounts for the 5,500-hour condition
- Controller and CFO support from $1,500 and $2,500 a month
Fees are published on the pricing page, and a single 45-minute Advice Call is a flat $200 + GST.
A remote CPA who works in English
EverStone works in English. For a Quebec owner who prefers to discuss the company’s finances in English, or an anglophone team inside a Quebec corporation, that is often the reason to call. The returns, slips and sales tax filings still go to Revenu Québec and the CRA in the ordinary way; the planning, the questions and the explanations happen in English.
The firm is a one-CPA practice at 32615 South Fraser Way in Abbotsford, British Columbia. There is no Quebec office and no local staff. The work runs by video call, phone, a secure upload link and e-signature. Being outside the province changes nothing about what is filed; a CPA outside Quebec is authorised by the CRA and, separately, by Revenu Québec, and files electronically with both. What it does change is overhead: the CPA who quotes the fee is the one who prepares the returns. Using a CPA in another province covers what to expect.
Ottawa-Gatineau businesses that deal with both provinces
Businesses in the national capital region often straddle the Ottawa River: an Ontario corporation with Quebec customers, a Gatineau resident working in Ottawa, a contractor crossing the bridge for jobs. Sales tax follows the place of supply, so the same business can charge HST on one invoice and GST and QST on the next. Residence on December 31 decides which province taxes an individual for the year. The Ottawa accountant page covers the Ontario side of that relationship.
Quebec accounting FAQ
Do you work in English with Quebec businesses?+
Does Revenu Québec really collect the GST?+
Why does my Quebec corporation file two returns?+
What is the 5,500-hour rule?+
What changes on a Quebec payroll?+
Can a CPA outside Quebec file Quebec returns?+
What does an accountant cost for a Quebec business?+
Which parts of Quebec do you serve?+
Working with us in Montreal and Quebec City
If your business is in or around Montreal, the accountant in Montreal page covers how a remote engagement works there, the industries that shape the city, and the Quebec specifics that come up. If your business is in the capital, Lévis or Sainte-Foy, the accountant in Quebec City page does the same for the Capitale-Nationale, from government consultants to seasonal hospitality.
Ready for a Quebec CPA who works in English?
Book a free consultation — GST and QST, the T2 and CO-17, and a Quebec payroll handled online at a fixed fee, anywhere in Quebec.